[ad_1]
Seoul, South Korea (CNN) North Korea has said the new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) it tested Thursday is solid-fueled, and analysts say it could launch long-range nuclear strikes more quickly and easily as it beefs up its missile program. said it could become
The new missile, dubbed the Hwasong-18, was launched shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday and caused a short evacuation order on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido before falling into waters east of the Korean Peninsula.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that the missile launch attended by Chairman Kim Jong-un and his daughter “will serve as a powerful strategic offensive instrument to increase military efficiency.”
KCNA quoted Kim as saying the Hwasong-18 would “fundamentally enhance” his county’s ability to launch a nuclear counterattack to suppress aggression and protect the nation.
Analysts have noted that North Korea already has that capability, but the new missiles may enhance it.
“I think this represents a technological advance, but I wouldn’t call it a game changer,” said Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
South Korea’s defense ministry said on Friday that North Korea needs “more time and effort to successfully perfect its solid-fuel ICBM technology.”
Kim Jong Un (center) and his daughter (left) watch Thursday’s missile launch in a photo released by state media.
Thursday’s missile test was North Korea’s 12th of the year, according to a CNN tally, and came after U.S. and South Korean forces completed their largest-ever military exercises earlier this month, which included a large amphibious landing exercise. rice field.
According to KCNA, it also means the North’s nuclear deterrent will be swiftly bolstered in response to “increasingly deteriorating security on the Korean Peninsula,” just days after a key meeting of North Korea’s Central Military Commission on Monday. It came at a time when I emphasized the need to expand.
Testing solid-fuel ICBMs is important because they are more stable. The liquid-fueled ones North Korea has previously tested in long-range missile launches.
According to Joseph Dempsey, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, solid-fuel ICBMs are fueled during manufacture and are more easily transported to avoid detection before launch, which can be started in minutes.
Dempsey said in an analysis earlier this year that a liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile undergoes a refueling process that can take hours at the launch site to give adversaries time to detect and neutralize it. I write that I need
North Korea sets global standards
Thursday’s launch came as no surprise to analysts who noted that North Korea had publicly announced tests of a solid-fuel rocket engine in December.
After starting with easy-to-master liquid-fuel technology, Kim Jong Un wanted to bring his army up to the standards of other nations with ICBMs. The apparent success of the solid-fuel ICBM launch suggests that his missile program is moving forward.
North Korea announced on Thursday that it had launched a new type of solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-18.
“In the early stages of North Korea’s missile program, liquid-fueled ICBMs represented the quickest and easiest path to achieving the country’s historic goal of being able to threaten the mainland United States,” said IISS’s Dempsey. writing.
“Adding solid-fuel ICBMs to the missile force will make it a more credible strategic deterrent by providing a more capable and less vulnerable first-strike and retaliation capability,” Dempsey writes. .
According to KCNA, the new Hwasong-18 has three stages, the same as the Minuteman III, the main US ICBM with three solid-fuel rocket motors.
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies analyst Jeffrey Lewis said: on Twitter It is “not surprising” that North Korea has tested a solid-fueled ICBM, adding that “it would be easier to use a solid-fueled missile.
“North Korea has always intended to follow the same technological path as the United States, the Soviet Union, France, China, Israel and India,” he added. Given that, it was clear (at least to me) that such tests could happen at any time after 2020.”
Questions about re-entry technology
Even with Thursday’s test, questions remain about whether North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile can actually launch a nuclear warhead over long distances, such as the US mainland.
Thursday’s test, like previous North Korean ICBM tests, was launched in a highly lofted trajectory, with the missile falling into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. To cover longer distances to the mainland United States, intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from North Korea must be launched on much flatter trajectories.
An ICBM is launched into space and accelerates along the Earth’s outer atmosphere before the payload (nuclear warhead) hits the target and undergoes a violent re-entry process like a space shuttle or space capsule. .
If the re-entry process into the atmosphere is not performed with pinpoint accuracy and in materials that can withstand the enormous heat generated, the warhead will burn up before reaching its target. Re-entering the atmosphere at the shallow angle required for long-range attacks can make the process more difficult.
Carnegie expert Panda said North Korea admitted that its launched intercontinental ballistic missiles had not tested reentry technology. But he said North Korea likely has the ability to master it.
“Based on the materials and engineering capabilities we’ve seen in other fields, developing a sufficiently robust reentry vehicle is not a real technical challenge,” he said.
In Thursday’s test, KCNA said a highly lofted angle was used to prevent debris from posing a danger to other countries.
On Thursday, the launch caused a temporary panic on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido after the government’s emergency alert system warned residents to evacuate.
Soon after, fear turned to anger and confusion amid reports that an evacuation order had been issued in error. Local officials said the missile could not have hit the island, and Tokyo later confirmed that the missile had landed in waters outside Japanese territory. east coast of the Korean Peninsula.
CNN’s Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link